Cyberpunk 2077 is in the Black & Staff Bonuses Will Be Paid

It’s only been a little over 2 days since Cyberpunk 2077 finally released, and, I think it would be fair to say that overall the reception from both fans and critics has been largely highly-positive. Yes, the game isn’t perfect and it certainly has more than a few bugs to work out over the coming months before it’s really nailed down, put simply though, having waited for what feels like an eternity for this to come out, I’m enjoying what I’m experiencing so far.

So, overhyped? – Maybe – Bloody good? – Definitely!

In terms of the news, however, despite more than a few (in my opinion, overly) negative media outlets trying to tap into the hype by finding fault at every opportunity, there are more than a few positives for CD Projekt Red to take away. Firstly, following confirmation that around 8 million pre-orders for Cyberpunk 2077 were placed, in a report via DSOGaming, the developer has already confirmed that even with the 8-year development and all of the marketing costs, the games’ sales have already put the company in the black. In other words, they’ve covered practically all major expenses and anything made from this point on is (largely) pure profit!

More so, however, the developer has also confirmed in a separate report via Kotaku that despite some mixed critical responses, staff bonuses specifically based on the game’s reception will be paid out!

Cyberpunk 2077

So, getting the first aspect out of the way. Despite all that time in development and all of the advertising and marketing expenses, Cyberpunk 2077, in less than 2 days from its release, has already managed to cover all of these costs based simply on the number of initial copies sold. The game is ‘is in the black’ and everything from this point on should easily give the developer a nice huge profit margin while still easily covering the expenses for further development on the title.

Concentrating on the latter aspect of the news, however, this one is a bit more complicated. You see, in a practice not uncommon to a lot of developers, a bonus was available to CDPR staff members if the game scored above 90 on Metacritic. Now, with it currently sat at exactly 90, there were more than a few concerns that this score might eventually end up at something closer to 85. Specifically, based on the rather lackluster comparative performance offered in both the PS4 and Xbox One versions of the game (which clearly lack the hardware to get the best out of the title and of which reviews haven’t mostly gone live yet).

Despite this, however, the initial reaction has been deemed ‘good enough’ by CDPR’s management to confirm that the staff bonuses for this remit will be paid out!

What Do We Think?

We, generally speaking, don’t do ‘gaming reviews’ here at eTeknix and there’s a number of reasons for that. Perhaps Andy or myself may cover at some point in the future. Put simply though, you only have to check out our official Twitch channel (via the link here) to see that Andy has been loving it so far and particularly sharing the experience with our community.

So, if you are currently on the fence, it isn’t bad advice for us to suggest that if you want a perfect experience, you might want to give Cyberpunk 2077 a few more weeks until the early patches iron out most of the major bugs. At the same time, however, are the glitches as bad as some media outlets are saying? – In my experience, no. Cyberpunk 2077 is, as it stands, pretty amazing and I only expect it to get even better in the future!

What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!